Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Will Jameis Winston be the quarterback of the future?

As Jameis Winston enters the final year of his contract in 2019, has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback done enough to secure his future?

Coming into the 2015 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished off the previous year with Josh McCown and Mike Glennon as their quarterbacks. To many, it was clear that Tampa needed a new quarterback, but it wasn’t clear which quarterback would be selected first overall by the Buccaneers. Sitting with the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, the Bucs had their pick between the top two quarterbacks: Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Florida State’s Jameis Winston.

The Buccaneers, obviously, landed on Winston and he’s been their guy since. Winston’s four years have been an up-and-down affair already. Winston’s first year as a pro was solid for a rookie with 4,042 yards, 22 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

But after his rookie year, the former Seminole could never find much consistency. In 2016, the Buccaneers had a winning record and Winston finished with 28 touchdowns and 4,090 yards passing. The next year, however, Winston fell well short of that with only 3,504 yards in 2017 and 19 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Off of that season, though, 2018 had to be the lowest point in Winston’s career.

More from NFL Spin Zone

• Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
• Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
• Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
• Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
• Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens

Last year, Winston was suspended for the first three games of the regular season for an incident with an Uber driver in March 2016. Not only was Winston’s off-field conduct unfavorable, but it was a rough season on the field for Winston as well. He finished the 2018 season with 2,992 yards and only 19 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.

Through his first four seasons in the NFL, Winston has proven to be arguably one of the highest variance quarterbacks in the league. He makes some outstanding throws down the field and also the occasional tight-window throw, but he also has several horrendous throws to match that are completely off target.

Bruce Arians, however, enters the fray as a huge X-factor for the Buccaneers and Winston, particularly regarding the quarterback’s contract situation. Arians was the former head coach for the Arizona Cardinals from 2013-17. After five years with the Cardinals, however, Arians called it a career in coaching and retired.

Originally, Arians said he would only consider coming out of retirement for the Cleveland Browns job, but the Buccaneers must have had something that Arians liked. Part of that could be a relationship with Tampa general manager Jason Licht but another part could well be the potential of Jameis Winston.

The 2018 season was forgettable for Winston and he surely needs to rebound in his first year under Arians. If he doesn’t, the Buccaneers might find somebody else in free agency or land one of the top quarterbacks in a strong 2020 draft class. Either way, Winston’s successor could be out there if he doesn’t kick it into gear.